Faces In The Pool
by shadowglove
Summary: When their father goes missing, Sam is resentful for being pulled out of his life in Stanford by his brother to go looking for the father who disowned him. But they find him at Chloe Sullivan's...and their father might have changed these last three years.


**Disclaimer: I don't own Smallville or Supernatural**

Written for my Paranormal25 150 Prompt Table. Prompt 139: Faces of Belmez.

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"Why are we here?" Sam asked with a huff, hands in the pockets of his wind blazer, annoyed and impatient. He mightn't have had the happiest life in Stanford, and yes, maybe he had been a little lonely…but this was so like his family to just burst into his life and want to try and dictate it after ignoring him for three whole years.

Just when he'd gotten control on his own life, Dean had arrived saying that their father had disappeared and was in trouble. Dean wouldn't listen to Sam when he'd told him that he needed to study for the interview he had with a law school that Monday, instead dragging him out with the promise of getting him back Sunday night—or early Monday morning.

So Sam was pissed at his father, annoyed with his brother, and disappointed in himself for letting his brother drag him back into the life he'd run so far away from when he was eighteen years old.

"Because dad told me that if anything ever happened to him, to come here." Dean answered with a glare, as if this should be obvious.

Sam frowned in confusion, looking at the very expensive home in the elite neighborhood. This was _so_ not their father's style, nor that of his usual friends. Who lived there and how did John Winchester know the person? "Are you sure he isn't just with Adam?"

Dean's face went dark. "I _called_, okay? He isn't with _him_."

When their father had told them both about their _brother_, he'd done so on the _phone_, and had hung up before either of them (who were on a three-way line) could blow up at him because of the news. Dean had refused to meet the other Winchester, refused to even acknowledge his presence, while Sam was taking time to try and digest the information.

He already had plans to go and visit the boy, though.

Adam was a part of his family, and since he wasn't exactly on good terms with the family he _already_ had, it was good to be on good terms with the little family he still had left.

"_Can I help you_?" A metallic, unclear voice unexpectedly spoke through the intercom by the door, causing Dean to jump in surprise.

Sam smirked in amusement.

Dean looked at the intercom as if wondering if it were possessed.

Rolling his eyes at his elder brother, Sam pushed passed him and leaned forwards, pressing the button. "We're looking for a C. Sullivan. This _is_ his house, right?"

There was a pause. "What relations are you to Mr. Sullivan?"

Dean, getting the gist of how the intercom worked, shouldered Sam out of the way and pressed the button, grinning. "Sully? We're friends with him! We go way back!"

There was another pause. "Oh _really_."

"Course." Dean announced with a sureness that annoyed Sam most of the time.

Sam sighed and looked up to notice a small security camera above them zooming down on them, obviously checking them out and wondering the validity of Dean's claims.

The younger brother looked around the posh neighborhood, unable to believe that his father really had any contact with someone who lived in a gated community with this much dough. It just didn't make any sense.

Who was this C. Sullivan and _why_ was he on John's emergency list?

Green/blue eyes noticed something on the bottom ledge of the front door (one had to step _up_ to head inside) and he noticed red brick dust sprinkled in a protective groove.

He blinked.

_Okay_.

Maybe this person _did_ know his father.

"Are you a friend of Clyde's from yoga, badminton, or ice polo?"

Sam blinked.

_Ice_ polo?

"Sammy here's Clyde's friend from yoga, you can tell." Dean tapped his brother's chest with the back of his hand. "_I'm_ from ice polo."

"_I'm sure you are_." The voice was still static-filled and distorted. "_Look up into the camera, I might have seen you before. You two look familiar_."

Dean looked up at the camera and gave his best 'I'm harmless yet sexy' grin.

Sam looked up at the camera, a little more wary.

The intercom died.

The brothers exchanged a look.

The door suddenly flew open to reveal a short, curvy blonde wearing nothing but a large towel, hair wet and sticking to her face and neck.

Dean's expression turned lecherous.

Sam's eyes widened, his mouth going dry immediately.

"Okay, so you're not shapeshifters---your eyes were normal on the screen. So all I'm going to say is that _there's no such thing as ice polo_, and when you come looking for someone, make sure you know the right _sex_ of the person." She snorted, looking completely unimpressed with both of them. "You know, when I saw John Winchester's boys on my doorstep, I kinda was expecting better."

Dean stiffened. "_You're_ C. Sullivan?"

Sam gulped as the towel loosened slightly.

She fixed it once more. "What do you think, Einstein?" She glared at them, not offering to tell them what the C stood for. "So? What are you doing here?"

"We're looking for our father…" Sam started.

The blonde looked a little more impressed with them. "How did you know he was here?"

"He's _here_?" Dean asked.

She didn't look impressed anymore. "So what have you been doing all this time? Knocking on the door of every number in his emergency list?"

Dean cleared his throat and looked down.

The blonde shook her head. "_How_ disappointing."

"Chlo? Who is it?" They could hear their father inside. "_Chloe?"_ John asked, appearing at her back, wearing only a towel, placing his hand on her shoulder before looking up, eyes widening as he recognized his sons. "Boys. What…what are you two doing here?"

"What are _we_ doing here?" Dean asked in a rare moment of rebellion and anger. "What are _you_ doing here? You're not answering our phone calls! We thought you were in trouble!"

John narrowed his eyes. "I don't have to answer to you! If I remember right _I_ was the father here!"

"I just missed studying for a _very_ important interview with the law firm I've been wanting to intern with since I started Stanford---to come and look for you!" Sam snapped, forgetting about the blonde and stepping furiously towards his father. "At least show some _gratitude_!"

John narrowed his eyes, mouth opening to say something that Sam _knew_ he'd want to knock him out for.

To the surprise of everyone, Chloe Sullivan _smacked John Winchester up the back of his head_. "Stop being such an _ass_, John."

John turned to her, glaring.

"Wow. Scary." She deadpanned, motioning behind her. "Why don't you go cool off in the pool before you say something stupid like you usually do when you're angry?"

Sam and Dean were shocked stupid when John did as told, storming away.

Shaking her head at him, Chloe turned to them, eyebrows raised. "So. You want a beer?"

They nodded, entering the house, more than a little intrigued at the young woman who could order their father…and hit him…while remaining alive and untouched.

She seemed completely at ease with them as she led them through the ridiculously posh home to the kitchen, which had three fridges…one filled with pure alcoholic beverages.

"I have a lot of friends that come over and they like to get drunk. Pick your beer of choice." Chloe announced unapologetically, the towel falling loose from her body and pooling to the ground.

Sam nearly tripped.

Fortunately, or maybe unfortunately, she was dressed in a strapless one-piece swimsuit.

Dean snorted in amusement as he noticed Sam's disappointment.

Chloe reached passed them and grabbed a beer, using a cap remover to get rid of it and take a sip. "Feel free to roam. If anything breaks I'll just bill it to John."

She then turned and began to walk away.

Sam forgot about the beer, hurrying after her. "Uh, so, how do you know our father?"

Taking a swig of the beer, Chloe gave him a look. "Work. I was on a hunt, John was on a hunt, we thought each _other_ was the hunt, and then the hunt hunted _us_." She chuckled. "It was a complicated hunt, as you can tell."

Sam smiled with a nod before looking around at the mansion. "So you hunt…but you can live like this?"

"Oh, I don't hunt full time, I'm actually a journalist at the Daily Planet." Chloe admitted. "Even if I _did_ hunt full time though, I'm one of the many ex Mrs. Luthors, so I'd be able to afford it. I'm the only ex who didn't press for a huge divorce settlement…and the one who got the highest settlement to date…_and_ I have an _allowance_…don't ask."

"Luthor?" Sam frowned. "As in _Lionel_ Luthor?" He'd been reading up about the many cases brought up against him that had been dropped.

"No, Lex Luthor, his _son_." Chloe announced, with another swig of her beer. "I'm wife number _four_ if I remember right. Though, well, we both kinda knew it was doomed from the beginning, but we had a good go at it. It just wasn't meant to be."

They followed her out to the pool area, where John could be seen surfacing, pulling off his snorkeling mask and looking at her. "There's even more, Chlo."

She frowned. "I just don't get it."

"More what?" Dean asked.

"Faces." Chloe answered. "There's faces on the tiles at the bottom of my pool."

Sam and Dean shared a look. "_Faces_?"

"Yeah, at first it really wasn't noticeable until I drained the pool to have it cleaned, and then I noticed the faces…and every day there were more and more of them. I decided to do some research on the place and I found out that this whole complex was built over an old Indian burial site."

"That's never good." Dean winced.

"So what did you do?"

"Well, I had this whole place excavated. We found bodies everywhere. It was morbidly fascinating." Chloe took the last swig of her beer and put down the empty bottle before reaching for her snorkeling mask and putting it on. "We got rid of all the bodies. But now even _more_ faces are appearing."

And with that she dove into the pool.

Sam turned to Dean.

The sandy blonde was already down to his boxers and cannon-diving into the pool, heading to the bottom to examine the faces closer up without the use of a snorkeling mask.

The chlorine was going to _kill_ his eyes later.

"_Dude_." Dean announced as he surfaced. "It is _freaky_!"

Sam snorted. "And that's saying something considering your line of work."

"I _know_." Dean agreed, before turning to his father. "So you've been checking this out for Chloe all this time?"

John nodded. "Yes. She was worried that it might be a curse. But I don't think so. I just think it's the dead wanting to be remembered. And maybe thanking her for giving their bodies a respectful burial."

"So you don't think a hand will reach out, grab my leg, and try to drown me one night while I'm swimming?" Chloe asked, pulling off her mask, eyeing him.

"Nah." John shook his head. "I'll do a consecration and protection ritual around the pool though, if it'd make you feel better."

"It would." Chloe smiled gratefully at him before swimming to the steps and climbing out of the pool. "And while you boys do that, I'll start dinner."

A look of ecstasy crossed John's features.

"I haven't had home cooking before." Dean muttered as he watched her go, before turning to his father, eyes narrowed. "She's old enough to be your _daughter_."

John gave him a glare. "Chloe is just a _friend_."

"_Right_." Dean snorted, grabbing Chloe's discarded snorkeling mask and diving back down to get another look at the faces.

Sam and John were left in uncomfortable silence.

The younger Winchester reached for the half empty beer Dean had forgotten and finished it to give himself to do.

John finally cleared his throat. "Thank you."

Sam turned to look at his father in surprise. "What?"

"I told you something very selfish when you told me that you wanted to go to Stanford, and yet you still came looking for me when you thought something had happened to me." He took in a deep breath. "So I'm _sorry_. I didn't---I didn't really _mean_ it when I told you that if you went to Stanford to never come back. I---" he looked up at Sam. "I just _worry_ about you, Sammy…you being there all by yourself."

Sam gave his father a small, incredulous smile, before shaking his head. "How much of that was Chloe's wording?"

He had a feeling Chloe knew _all_ about them.

John chuckled, swimming to the steps. "About more than 75 per cent of it."

"I figured." Sam laughed, smiling genuinely for the first time since he'd left that motel to go to Stanford. His gaze went to the home, where Chloe could be heard singing loudly and slightly off-key from the kitchen. "She seems like a really nice person."

"She is." John announced, sitting on the edge of the pool, feet in the water. "She reminds me of Mary. I think---if we'd had a daughter---she would have been like her."

Sam was surprised at how easily his father was talking about his mother.

He wondered how much Chloe had to do with that.

"She needs a good man in her life though." John announced with fatherly worry. "Someone from both worlds, like _her_." His gaze went to Sam in a way that he probably _thought_ was sneaky.

Sam thankfully didn't have the chance to choke on his saliva, as Dean surfaced and pulled him into the pool.

As he surfaced, Sam sputtered, wiping the water from his eyes and glaring at his brother, promising him swift murder as he began to chase him around the pool, Dean taunting him the whole time.

While he should be furious for Dean's ruining his suit, Sam couldn't help but smile as he heard his father's barked laughter.

It was a sound he'd hardly heard.

And somehow, during these last three years, his father had changed…all because of the tiny blonde.

Sam smiled.

He was going to have to get to know her better.

And with that resolution, he grinned and finally caught Dean, dunking him under the water, crowing his victory.

From below, the faces watched and smiled.

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